by Justin Lelia
After reading “Empty Cages” by Tom Regan, I called my Father to talk about the inhumanity of animal slaughter. After agreeing that animals have rights, my Father told me of a customer who hunted and killed a 1400 lb Woodland Buffalo with a bow and arrow. My Father wondered how a person could hunt an animal for entertainment. Inspired, I asked my Father what he thought of the ethics of eating animals. He reasoned that since the beginning of time people have been eating meat, and he said he liked the taste. The hunter might hunt for similar reasons. People have been hunting for eons; it’s exciting to many. If we agree that animals have rights, then enjoyment or excitement are not ethical reasons for encouraging their slaughter.
Ethics
People will continue to do what’s wrong for lack of knowledge, reasoning, and the fear of pain. For instance, people continue to smoke because withdrawal from nicotine is discomforting. Therefore, good feelings do not necessarily go hand in hand with ethics. Ethics are what we imagine to be the best way to conduct ourselves as parents, citizens, siblings, professionals, consumers, friends etc. According to philosophers and scientists, our ethics ought to be based on certain principles.
1) Do as little harm as possible.
2) Protect the best interest and moral rights of the affected.
3) Be fair, and have defensible reasons for any unequal treatment.
4) Respect community, especially the welfare of the vulnerable.
5) Uphold virtuous qualities like truth, beauty, courage, fidelity, compassion, generosity, and love.
Contrast these principles with those of veal producers.
Cruel, Calculating, and Cowardly
Industries who are responsible for the murder of animals swear that they are acting humanely to them (the word humane is synonymous with compassion, mercy, and consideration for other humans and animals). They tell us this because they need to conform to federal laws, and they want the public to think that everyone, including the animals, is happy. Let’s take a look at the scenario of veal production as one example of “humane” treatment.
Veal is the flesh of a young male calf. Veal consumers like it because it is tender and easy to cut. The use of a knife is often unnecessary. For some, eating doesn’t get better than this. One chef said enthusiastically “Veal is the king of meats”, that “it melts in your mouth like fine chocolate.”
Before the 1950’s the amount of veal the industry could yield from a calf was small compared to what can be yielded today. The yield grew when a method was introduced allowing calves to grow bigger without developing their muscles. Farmer’s put the calves in wooden or metal stalls that were small enough to prevent movement. As they were fed, the calves growth continued, but their flesh wouldn’t lose its desired pale color and tenderness because the muscles remained weak. Larger calves meant more veal. Prices went down, and more people could now afford to buy this “specialty” food. Today, there are well over a thousand veal farms in America. At these “farms”, there are upwards of 3000 stalls, but the average is 200 stalls per farm.
The calves live a miserable existence confined to a two foot wide by five-foot long box. When they get to a certain size, it becomes impossible to turn around in the stall, and to lie down…in their own feces, might I add. Their knees become swollen and painful, and their minds traumatized from the deprivation of any movement or contact.
When people learn about veal production they often say, “I don’t want to think about it. It’s too depressing.” It’s torture. That veal calves display disorders (rolling of the tongue and twitching) associated with psychological maladjustment is of no surprise. And for what reason do calves get treated thusly: to fulfill some gourmand’s appetite?
The veal industry says: “The humane production of veal calves is our top priority.” They lie. As you can see, there is no humane way of producing veal. Calves are meant to be frolicking in spacious pastures, in contact with their mothers, eating grass. When we plug “veal farming” into our method for deciding between right and wrong, it fails across the board. The vulnerable are not to be used as feed, especially when we have plenty of other food to eat.
Contemporary people agree that animals are capable of feeling physical and emotional pain. Animals are not robots. Furthermore, many agree that an animal’s welfare means as much to them as ours does to us. In other words, the calf’s life is as important to the calf as ours’ is important to us. Animals have a desire to continue life like us. They are physiologically made with structures and functions that resemble ours; they eat, sleep, breathe, have a brain and nerves. Their existence has a purpose. We must be humbled by it.
We know that animals suffer when their freedom, happiness, and lives are destroyed. By honoring their existence, we may better appreciate the simple things we have in common with them, the simple things that make us happy: feeding ourselves and our young, being outside in nature, and having friends and family. What kind of person would deny someone those rights?